bucket shop
Americannoun
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Stock Exchange. an unsound, unethical, or overly aggressive brokerage house.
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Slang. any shady commercial agency, as one dealing in illegally priced theater tickets.
noun
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an unregistered firm of stockbrokers that engages in speculation with clients' funds
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any small business that cannot be relied upon, esp one selling cheap airline tickets
Etymology
Origin of bucket shop
An Americanism dating back to 1870–75; originally a cheap drinking establishment, allegedly so called because liquor was mixed or sold in buckets
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
From the outside, a bucket shop resembled a legitimate brokerage.
From Barron's • Apr. 7, 2026
The subsequent investigation under New York’s Martin Act brought down the Consolidated, and helped end the heyday of the bucket shop.
From Barron's • Apr. 7, 2026
Critics are calling this the bucket shop act of 2012.
From New York Times • Apr. 3, 2012
Ryanair, the "no frills" bucket shop airline, has finally confirmed that passengers will now be charged to use the loo.
From The Guardian • Apr. 10, 2010
Why don't you open a bucket shop, my boy," said that cynic, "and make some money?
From Rockhaven by Munn, Charles Clark
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
